This page contains an archive of all the news
stories about Dewar Wildlife, starting with the most recent and going
backwards.

J.R. Davis
Gorilla Studbook

Jim Davis maintains an unofficial version of the Gorilla Studbook. This
studbook is updated on a very regular basis and every attempt is made to
keep it as up to date as possible:
Click Here for the Studbook

School Groups visit
Dewar Wildlife

Interested in having your School Group Visit?

In addition to just visiting the facility, several school groups have made
it a full outing by camping overnight on the Dewar Wildlife property. We
have a fire ring which works well for a night time cook-out and students
can use sleeping bags inside unoccupied buildings - even inside cages(!),
or they can pitch tents or
hammocks and sleep outside if the weather is
good. Restroom and showers are available in a nearby building to make it a
more pleasant experience.

Dewar Wildlife's secluded location in the
mountains of North Georgia makes it an ideal place to experience the
natural environment and encourage students to think about conservation,
animal welfare and environmental issues. Teachers who accompany the
students have been especially impressed at the uniformly positive reaction
of the students to the experience.

Dewar Wildlife offers special pricing on group visits - contact JoBeth
Dewar (706-374-5109) for more information

A class from Stephens County school visited Dewar Wildlife on
October 18, 2013. This photograph was taken just outside the main gates at
the conclusion of the visit.

All of them declared that it was an
"Awesome" experience, never to be forgotten, to get so close to these
magnificent creatures. After camping out overnight (boys in the cages in
an unoccupied Gorilla Villa, girls in the Recovery building), they
got up the next day and pitched in to help clear the garden for planting
and help get the maintenance building organized. Thank you, Stephens
County School!

Gorillas and Cardiovascular Testing

Dewar
Wildlife Trust's two gorilla residents, Jasiri (age 14) and Kidogo
(age 14) received their voluntary cardiac ultrasound exams
recently as part of their routine health care from Zoo Atlanta's
primate keeper Jodi Carrigan and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
volunteer sonographer Bobbie Boyd. While Jasiri and Kidogo are both
healthy gorillas, cardiac disease is the number one health issue
facing gorillas in captivity, and so monitoring for cardiovascular
disease has become a top priority for zoos and sanctuaries housing
great apes. Often, when an ape develops cardiac disease, they do not
show behavioral signs until the disease has progressed too far. In
the event that an ape develops heart disease, early detection is
critical in order for veterinarians to treat and prevent the
progression of the disease. Dewar Wildlife's iconic resident, Joe,
passed away this past July and chronic heart disease was a major,
contributing factor (although at 49, and, at the time, the second
oldest male in captivity, we think he did remarkably well, given his
condition!).

Cardiac
ultrasounds are an excellent diagnostic tool for detecting heart
disease, but these exams used to only take place only during sedated
physical exams which happen once a year if not less frequently. For
this reason, it has been a significant advancement in veterinary
medicine and captive care management of great apes to be able to
perform awake cardiac exams through routine training exercises
between keepers and apes. As part of an initiative of the Great Ape
Heart Project at Zoo Atlanta (www.greatapeheartproject.org),
Zoo Atlanta has developed an awake ultrasound training program in
collaboration with volunteer sonographers from Children's Healthcare
of Atlanta (CHOA). Zoo Atlanta keepers use training techniques to
get the gorillas to present their chests to the mesh of their home
enclosures. This allows them to use an ultrasound probe to look at
their heart [PICTURE]. While the keeper works on positively
reinforcing this behavior, the sonographer views the heart images to
collect and calculate all the measurements needed for an evaluation
to be made. The Great Ape Heart Project recommends collecting awake
ultrasound measurements every six to nine months in order to monitor
an ape's heart health closely, so this was the first time since
their move to Dewar Wildlife, that Jasiri and Kidogo were due for
exams.

July 2012
Our Beloved Joe (Kabako) Passes at 49 Years of Age

Joe
died at Dewar Wildlife in Morganton, Georgia on Tuesday, July 31,
2012. Dewar Wildlife’s Francis Cipullo, DVM, in conjunction with Zoo
Atlanta's Veterinary team made the difficult decision to euthanize Joe
at the conclusion of an emergency immobilization following a recent
marked decline in his health along with ongoing chronic health
conditions that included advanced periodontal and cardiac disease.

"All of us at the Dewar Wildlife Trust are devastated by the passing
of Joe. He was greatly admired and loved by all those who came in
contact with him, and everyone who was privileged to meet him face
to face will always remember him." He enjoyed the tour visitors and
especially young children who seemed to provide an endless source of
fascination" said C. E. Steuart Dewar of the Dewar Wildlife
Trust

Born in the wild in Cameroon in 1963, Joe was the third oldest western
lowland male gorilla living in a zoological setting, although we
believe he may have briefly (for a week!) qualified as the second
oldest male. In 1966, Joe became a resident of the Birmingham Zoo in
Birmingham, Ala., where he lived for the next 20 years. Although
housed with females at the Birmingham Zoo and later the Denver Zoo in
Denver, Colo., and the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, Joe
never sired any offspring. In 2003, he moved to our facility at Dewar
Wildlife in Morganton, Georgia.

We are grateful to our supporters, tour visitors and the Atlanta and
Birmingham Zoos which helped us provide Joe with the rich surroundings
of Dewar Wildlife for the last decade of his life. Joe had become a
special figure to many people in Georgia over the past decade and he
will be missed by all who knew and cared about him.

If you would like to share your thoughts or feelings about Joe, or
have photographs you took on a tour, etc. - please visit our
Facebook page and
comment there so you can share them with everyone else for whom Joe
was so important - Thanks!

March, 2012

Willie B. Jr. and Jasiri
settle into their new Mountain Home!

Jasiri

Happy Birthday,
Joe!

The
end of March is Joe's turn to be in the limelight - at 49, the third
oldest male gorilla whose age is known.

Guests on the March
31st tour had a special treat to see Joe's reaction to his birthday
"Cake" (water-melon, celery for candles with strawberries for the
flame).

Willie
B. Jr. (Kidogo)

February2012

Join the DWT in Welcoming its
New
Residents!

Willie
B. Jr. (Kidogo - Father: Willie B., Mother:
Machi)

Jasiri(Father: Ozoum, mother: Katoomba)

Willie B. Jr. (also known as Kidogo) is the
only son of Atlanta's famous Willie B. There are actually three gorillas
named Kidogo, so to avoid any confusion, we are probably going to refer to this
gorilla as Willie B. Jr. His 'buddy' Jasiri is almost exactly the same
age (they are both 13, going on 14), and they get along well together in
spite of their quite different personalities. Physically, Willie B. has a
far more pronounced sagittal crest, and looks more like an adult male
(silverback) than Jasiri who still has more of the look of a younger
blackback. Both of them are settling in well at Dewar Wildlife, and we
will be posting more information on the two of them and their new life
here in the North Georgia Mountains shortly (click on either image for a larger
version of the photograph).

Charles Horton

We are especially grateful to Zoo Atlanta
for their expression of confidence in working with the DWT to house two of
their gorillas, especially with Willie B. Jr. being the only son of
Atlanta's famous resident gorilla. Overseeing their care and the
facility is Zoo Atlanta's Charles Horton, who personally took care of Willie B. for so
many years. It's certainly a wonderful set of circumstances that have
resulted in Charles now being associated with both Zoo Atlanta and the DWT
where in addition to looking after Joe, he can oversee Willie B.'s son and
Jasiri as they spend their active teenage years in the large DWT facility
in the North Georgia mountains.

And how is Joe taking all of this? Joe
seems to be aware of some new activity in the facility, but since Willie
B. Jr and Jasiri are at opposite ends of the huge 8.5 acre habitat from
Joe, they are hardly close enough to invoke much attention from DWT's
long-time resident, who is now only weeks away from his 49th birthday.

December, 2011

Where are Oliver's Goats? Answer: They went to school!

While Oliver was at the DWT, he had two goats in the
habitat to keep him company (see Videos). Originally named Briggs & Stratton in the misplaced
optimism of thinking they would keep the grass "mowed" (oops... Oliver's food
was a lot more tasty!) - they were then referred to as Mama and Baby. When
Oliver left, the two goats stayed in his habitat, but with no immediate further
company, it was obviously time to find them a new home.

Charles Horton with Briggs & Stratton in
their crates

So the goats left in December to join some other animals
on the grounds of a School in South Carolina,
Whetstone Academy and reassumed
their original names of Briggs & Stratton (especially since "Baby" is now
much larger than "Mama"!).

Transportation from Dewar Wildlife to the School was
under the careful watch of Charles Horton (photo left) who delivered them in
person and took care of health certificates and other transport
requirements.

They have become an instant hit with the students and
get lots of love and attention from them, not to mention spending time with
the donkeys, chickens and other farm critters.